Parlor, Bedroom and Bath, 1931 starring Buster Keaton

Parlor, Bedroom and Bath is an American pre-Code comedy film starring Buster Keaton, released by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer in 1931. It was one of Keaton’s early talking pictures, released in the aftermath of his silent career. The film was released in the United Kingdom as Romeo in Pyjamas. It is the remake of a 1920 film of the same name, based on the play by Charles William Bell and Mark Swan, which opened on Broadway in New York City on Christmas Eve, 1917 and ran for 232 performances.

Parlor, Bedroom and Bath was filmed in Keaton’s own house. According to a modern source, Eugene Pallette, who starred in the 1920 film version, was believed to have been part of the production team of this film, though he was not a member of the cast. The film is now in the public domain and can be freely downloaded from the internet.

Plot:
Jeffrey Haywood (Reginald Denny) wants to get married to Virginia Embrey (Sally Eilers). However, Virginia refused to marry unless her older sister, the hard-to-please Angelica (Dorothy Christy) gets married first. Angelica, in turn, finds every man she knows too dull and predictable, and for this reason prefers to stay single. Jeff then tries to make Angelica interested in the mild-mannered and timid Reggie Irving (played by Keaton) passing him off as a notorious playboy to intrigue her. He asks his friend Polly to teach Reggie “how to treat a woman right”, but he turns out to be a disastrous learner.